1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dual use productxe2x80x94one that may be used as a water cooler with a sculptured three dimensional object form, and may alternately be used to freeze liquid, e.g. colored water, and cut open to mold frozen sculpture for winter or subzero environment display.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Designed bottles have existed for years, formed of glass or plastic, e.g. the Abe Lincoln savings bank, the Planters"" Peanuts jar, etc.
Likewise, water coolers with delivered, interchangeable plastic bottles of water have also successful for decades. However, in the present invention, a water cooler bottle has a three dimensional sculpture object molded into its sidewalls in an inverted fashion so that the bottle itself may be inverted for use so as to upright the sculptured object during water dispensing.
Notwithstanding the prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.
The present invention involves a combination ice sculpture mold and water cooler container which may be used to freeze a liquid and then cut open to create a frozen sculpture, and it alternatively may be used as a water or other liquid supply in its inverted, open position with a xe2x80x9cwater coolerxe2x80x9d, i.e. a bottled-liquid receiving liquid dispenser. It could be used for both purposesxe2x80x94first with a water cooler and subsequently as an ice sculpture. In the alternative, it could be kept in tack and used as an enclosed xe2x80x9cice sculpturexe2x80x9d and subsequently reused for either purpose.
It includes a hollow plastic container having a top and a bottom and sidewalls and having a neck at its top, with the neck having a dispensing orifice. By xe2x80x9csidewallsxe2x80x9d is meant both the singular and the plural. Hence, a rectangular footprint container would have four sidewalls, while a cylindrical container would only have one sidewall.
The present invention hollow plastic container has a three dimensional sculpture mold formed out of at least one of its sidewalls. In preferred embodiments, it is formed out of all of its sidewalls, i.e., using at least a portion of each sidewall for the three dimensional sculpture mold. The sculpture mold depicts a recognizable unique three-dimensional form of a physical object. The physical object has a recognizable top and a recognizable bottom, and is formed in the container invented relative to the hollow plastic container so that the physical object top is biased toward the bottom of the container and the physical object bottom is biased toward the top of the container. In other words, when the container is upright, the physical object is upside down, and vice versa.
The container may be filled with a liquid and be stored and shipped upright with its bottom facing earth and the sculpture upside down, and subsequently placed in a water dispenser for liquid dispensing in an inverted position, thereby displaying the physical object in its upright position. Alternatively, the container may be filled with liquid, frozen, displayed as an ice sculpture, or cut open and stripped to produce a molded, frozen sculpture.
In some embodiments, the combination ice sculpture mold and water cooler container of the present invention has a substantially flat top and a substantially flat bottom. This renders it more easily set up and stable in its upright position and in its inverted position. In other embodiments, one of the top and the bottom may be flat, or neither may be flat.
In general, the sculpture may be located in an area anywhere on, or throughout the structure of the container. In some preferred embodiments, the sidewalls have a top region, a middle region, and a bottom region, and the sculptured object is located in the middle region. This mode allows for more flat surface areas at the top and bottom of the container, as well as increased inside volume, i.e. capacity.
The present invention container may have a circular outer periphery from top view. Alternatively, it may have a rectangular outer periphery from top view, e.g. a square top view, although any shape from a top view, irregular or regular shaped, could be used. The square, circular, or rectangular configuration makes multiple unit storage, encasement, transport, etc. more convenient, hence these shape choices are preferred.
In order to avoid a frozen sculpture with a base having a protruded ice cylinder (from the upper neck using a normal cap) that would be difficult to stand up on a flat surface, either of two approaches may be taken. First, the container may be filled below the neck level and frozen while upright. Second, a cap may be used, which has a pintal which extends into substantially all of the neck, to displace the open space in the neck and prevent the formation of a frozen plug or cylinder. The container is filled and may be frozen upright or inverted.
In another embodiment, the present invention is a water cooler system. It includes a water dispenser having a top with a support area for receiving an inverted hollow plastic container, with an inlet on its top for receiving an open neck of an inverted hollow plastic container. It has a spigot with an outlet connected to the inlet. The spigot has an open position and a closed position for respectively permitting and preventing flow from an inverted hollow plastic container having a liquid therein from the inlet to the outlet. It also includes the hollow plastic container described above.
Typically, the water dispenser inlet includes a liquid holding area with a refrigerator mechanism for cooling liquid contained within the liquid holding area, although, for some purposes, the inclusion of refrigerator is unnecessary. Also, although xe2x80x9cwaterxe2x80x9d is used herein throughout the application, any flowable liquid could be used in place of water, e.g. colored water, lemonade, cola, fruit juice, liquor, etc.
In yet another embodiment, the present invention water container includes: (a) a hollow plastic container having a top and a bottom and sidewalls and having a neck at its top, with a dispensing orifice; and, (b) a float contained inside the hollow plastic container for floatation atop liquid within the container. The float has a hollow upper area and a weighted lower area so as to maintain a predetermined orientation when afloat. In some preferred embodiments, the float includes at least one presentation area adapted to contain a presentation selected from the group consisting of written messages, logos, three dimensional, recognizable physical objects, and combinations thereof. For example, the float may be made of a hollow plastic material which contains more mass of plastic material in its lower area than in its upper area. Alternatively, it could contain or have a weight attached to its bottom.